Teen Charged in Accidental Shooting of Friend, 15, Police Say

By DNAinfo Staff on December 25, 2012 8:59am | Updated on December 26, 2012 9:14am

Darius Lewis, 17, (l.) was charged in connection with the accidental shooting death of Kentan Scott, 15.
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Cook County Sheriff and Family Photo

AUSTIN — The mother of a teenager who was fatally shot in his own bedroom said Tuesday that she forgives the boy who was charged with accidentally firing the gunshot that struck the boy.

Darius Lewis, 17, was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm in connection with the death of Kentan Scott, 15. Lewis was handling a gun in the home of Kentan Scott in the 4800 block of West Quincy Street Thursday night when it went off and struck Kentan in the head, police and Kentan's mother, April Ivery, said.

The shooting was accidental, said Chicago Police spokesman John Mirabelli.

"I feel no ill will toward him, but the fact that a gun was brought into my home is tearing me up inside," Ivery said.

She said Darius' family has sent condolences.

Before the shooting, Ivery said she had arrived home when her son, Darius and another boy had gone to Kentan's bedroom in the back of their third-floor apartment.

While cooking dinner, Ivery heard "a soft pow" and thought a television had fallen over. The two other boys told Ivery that Kentan, a sophomore at Banner West Academy who loved studying math, had shot himself.

"I told my son to stop playing and get up," Ivery said. "The boys kept saying he shot himself. Then I saw blood coming out of his mouth."

Paramedics arrived at 8 p.m., according to police. The boy was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Ivery said she didn't know where the gun came from, but it did not come from her home.

Police investigated the possibility that Kentan may have been playing with the gun Thursday night, Mirabelli said. But based on his wounds and other evidence, police found that the boy had not shot himself, Ivery said.

Darius, who Ivery says is "like a nephew" to her, later admitted to handling the gun when it went off. He is being held in Cook County Jail on $300,000 bond, and his next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday.

A clip of ammunition wasn't found in the gun, suggesting the shooting was accidental and that the three boys hadn't realized there was a bullet in the chamber, Ivery said police told her.

When Kentan was shot, Ivery hadn't completed her Christmas shopping. But she knew exactly what her second-youngest of four sons wanted: a Macy's gift card.

"He loved to be fashionable," Ivery said.

While his mother said Kentan loved his family and never was troublesome, Kentan's 7-year-old brother Dhacari Washington said otherwise.